Spider light squashed in City’s web

Sunday's icy precip had barely begun to stick when down the Mall rumbled a big ole City Parks truck with an even bigger ole snowplow out in front, ready for action. Scrape, scrape... BOOM! Down went one of the four-light black "spider lights" in front of Bizou restaurant.

What happened? City spokesperson Ric Barrick explains that a brake line malfunctioned on the truck, sending it into the pole. Good thing the dicey weather had depopulated the Mall of strollers.

Workmen scampered about gathering pieces of the infamous fixtures that first sparked controversy in 1996 when the Board of Architectural Review ordered developer Lee Danielson to use them instead of some Victorian-style models he had positioned in front of his Ice Park.

Then in 2004, Philadelphia consulting firm Wallace, Roberts & Todd raked in $1.2 million for some makeover studies that suggested the spiders be replaced with halide Hestia "accent lights" by Lumec-Schreder. Maybe that's finally about to happen.

Barrick says that because the firm that made the spiders no longer exists, the lamp will not be replaced. It might be a bright idea for Lumec-Schreder to get a sales rep down here ASAP.
#